Scheme support

Schemes are made up of one or more standards—requirements that must be met before certification is granted. Schemes can be owned and operated by public or private sector entities.

JAS-ANZ works with scheme owners all the time. We use our extensive experience to help those who aim to:

start a new scheme, or
have a scheme endorsed.

Schemes can take many forms and commonly have the objective of making explicit important details of product, service or personnel characteristics. Schemes are based on standards. Products, systems or persons can be certified against standards.

A scheme provides the rules and processes to be followed by those determining if a product, system or person satisfies the requirements specified in a standard. A well-designed scheme will support market transaction or delivery of public services. Consequently, we take care in the work we do with scheme owners on the design and development of schemes.

JAS-ANZ has now implemented a minimum endorsement fee for all scheme endorsement applications.

JAS-ANZ is currently developing a set of harmonized requirements for electrical equipment certification. The Electrical Equipment Safety Certification (EESC) Scheme is currently being developed by a Technical Committee representing Australian and New Zealand stakeholders in this sector. The new scheme is a type test scheme aimed at being a harmonized set of requirements to replace the existing 9 schemes owned by certification bodies operating in this space.

Due to the advanced stage of this initiative, JAS-ANZ will no longer be accepting scheme endorsement applications from scheme owners for existing schemes in this sector. This is effective from 8 September 2021.

Steps involved for developing a new scheme

We apply a formal application process in developing a scheme to test to the need for the scheme, its intent and likely impact through seven key steps:

Step 1 — prepare an application

You need to provide adequate description of the proposed scheme that includes:

the purpose of the scheme,
intended operation of the scheme,
business case for the scheme;

Step 2 — preliminary review of application

JAS-ANZ can provide a review of the application that involves:

examining the scheme proposal against known models and practices considering any competing regulatory, government, industry or conformity assessment body schemes.
a joint risk assessment of the proposed scheme; and
whether it is appropriate for the scheme to proceed under the JAS-ANZ banner.

Step 3 — agree on project parametres

develop a memorandum of understanding or similar statement outlining purpose, roles and responsibilities (for endorsed schemes only)

Step 4 — establish Technical Committee

develop and publish terms of reference, including key milestones and deliverables
establish Technical Committee with members typically including:
- JAS-ANZ representative
- relevant government or regulatory representatives
- suppliers and industry representatives
- conformity assessment experts with a direct interest in the scheme
- end users and consumers

Step 5 — set the development process and timeframes

The Technical Committee:

validates the suitability, reliability and efficacy of the scheme
establishes timeframes for implementation

Step 6 — publish scheme

JAS-ANZ publishes all endorsed schemes on the JAS-ANZ Website.

Step 7— periodic reviews

The Technical Committee:

conducts periodic reviews (partial and/or in-depth) to ensure scheme retains its integrity
withdraws endorsement for schemes not living up to expectations and agreed terms

Introduction to Scheme Endorsement at JAS-ANZ

Overview of Scheme Endorsement at Jas-ANZ

Providing evidence of the suitability of your scheme to meet its stated objectives

Scheme endorsement requires a detailed, considered appraisal of the rationale for your conformity assessment scheme, and the suitability of its requirements for achieving its desired objectives.

JAS-ANZ has now implemented a minimum endorsement fee for all scheme endorsement applications. If an applicant (whether an accredited body or otherwise) applies to attain accreditation to a scheme that has not previously been endorsed by JAS-ANZ, applicants are asked to complete the ‘Checklist of actions to take before a scheme endorsement application is accepted by JAS-ANZ’.

Following completion of this checklist, a pre-application meeting will be held to learn more about the proposed scheme and its objectives. Following this meeting, if the applicant still intends for the scheme to be endorsed by JAS-ANZ, payment of a minimum $6000 plus GST (AUD) endorsement fee (and any additional amount if advised through the formal scheme endorsement quote) will be required in order to progress the endorsement process. Payment of this fee is not a guarantee that the scheme will be endorsed by JAS-ANZ. However, as a general rule, applicants will be afforded at least three rounds of appraisals of their scheme prior to JAS-ANZ reserving the right to issue a formal rejection letter, with the outline of reasons.

Following written notification of acceptance of the scheme endorsement application and payment of the fee, applicants will be provided with JAS-ANZ Scheme Endorsement Application form 171 (Application for JAS-ANZ endorsement or re-endorsement of a scheme), which asks for in-depth details of the scheme owner, the scheme objectives, the technical structure of the scheme, the process for its development, and evidence of its demand and effectiveness in meeting its objectives. All details in this form must be completed, and the documented scheme provided and associated records as requested.

Efficiency demands in the current environment

JAS-ANZ operates on a fully cost-recovered basis and does not receive ongoing funding from either the Australian or New Zealand governments. With the exception of fee-for-service technical work, JAS-ANZ revenues are solely raised through conformity assessment bodies and the levies (if applicable) applied to accredited attestations, reports, or other outputs as agreed for a given scheme.

Accreditation of bodies by JAS-ANZ is internationally recognised through its assessment procedures as outlined in the Accreditation Manual and legal enforced through the Accreditation Deed. These are the mechanism by which JAS-ANZ demonstrates to its international peers that it complies with all IAF and ILAC mandatory requirements in scope of its recognition, including ISO/IEC 17011 as the harmonised international standard for accreditation bodies.

The combined effect of these requirements is that JAS-ANZ undertakes performance-based surveillance and reaccreditation assessments of conformity assessment bodies for each and every standard and scheme it has granted accreditation to. At the minimum, this means that at least one office surveillance assessment every two years is undertaken depending on the bodies’ compliance with the scheme, and every five years at least one witness assessment of an audit (depending on programme) under the scheme is undertaken.

Collating evidence of the suitability of a conformity assessment scheme

The principles of scheme development are highly similar to those for standards development, and all scheme owners would be expected to develop their scheme to a state that is ready for scheme endorsement. The objectives of the scheme are sometimes better met through other mechanisms.

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